José SIdenei de Melo |
quinta-feira, 13 de agosto de 2015
Windows 10 – nota 10. -
American Standard’s SaTo: A Safe Toilet
| Wed, 08/12/2015 - 7:00am Lindsay Hock, Editor
Every Wednesday, R&D Magazine will feature a R&D 100 Flashback, chosen from our R&D 100 archive of winners. This week’s flashback is American Standard’s SaTo, which won a R&D 100 Award in 2014. Lack of safe sanitation facilities causes 2,000 deaths/day worldwide, mostly among children. American Standard set out to help save these lives with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge to develop and test a low-cost, pre-fabricated toilet system for use in developing countries. The SaTo—derived from “safe toilet”—is a cost-effective, sanitary toilet pan designed for use in Bangladesh, where most people use non-hygienic open pit latrines to defecate. Q: Briefly describe your winning technology. A: American Standard invented the SaTo (derived from Safe Toilet) sanitary toilet pan in 2013 to help reduce disease transmission, provide safe sanitation facilities and improve quality of life for residents of Bangladesh, who were defecating using open pit latrines. This cost-effective SaTo toilet pan used ingeniously simple mechanical and water seals with a trap-door mechanism to close off pit latrines from the open air, thereby preventing flying insects from spreading pathogens from contact with human waste. Use of the SaTo pan allowed residents to continue “flushing” their waste using their traditional bodna container of water. Q: What made your winning technology better than what already existed? A: On a 2013 research trip to Bangladesh, the product design team observed the widespread use of non-hygienic latrines, where users fill a pot with water and use this to “flush” waste into the pit. The latrines were covered with a concrete slab in which a plastic toilet pan was encased. The pans had a large opening that allowed waste to fall through, but no seal to prevent transmission of pathogens back out of the pit via flying insects. The SaTo pan effectively and simply sealed off the latrine pits, while allowing residents to maintain their regular bathroom practices. Q: How important was your winning technology to its end application? A: The winning technology proved to be a highly successful solution to a serious health issue. Field tests, and subsequent permanent installations, garnered extremely positive feedback by users. The SaTo pan was easy to use, effective at reducing disease transmission, reduced occurrence of illness in children and virtually eliminated the strong latrine odor. Since the SaTo pans were designed to accommodate existing cultural and sanitation practices, their acceptance was widespread throughout the communities. By working with an established local manufacturer, the $1.85 SaTo pan cost made them attainable for a population surviving on less than $1.00 per day.
SaTo. Image: American StandardQ: Have you changed your winning product since you won the R&D 100 Award? A: The model designed for Bangladesh hasn’t changed, and has received very positive reviews from the thousands of families that received the SaTo toilet pans. American Standard has developed a new SaTo model for use by low-income households in Sub-Saharan Africa. In many areas, such as rural Malawi and Uganda, both water and concrete—two key components in the original SaTo design—are scarce or expensive. Plus, alternate pan designs are being crafted to accommodate both squatting and sitting postures for use in this part of the world. These new-model SaTo toilet pans will incorporate local Sub-Saharan Africa bathroom practices, just as the original SaTo pan did in Bangladesh, with the goal of improving sanitation facilities without requiring a change in behavior. Q: What value did winning an R&D 100 Award provide to you and your organization? A: Winning this R&D 100 Award provided very real and meaningful validation that this seemingly humble product was well researched, thoughtfully designed and carried the potential to improve quality of life and provide dignity for people globally. This recognition supports the cause of global sanitation, providing much-needed attention to a critical health issue facing nearly 40% of the world population. The accolades for the SaTo toilet pan has helped it to be embraced by NGOs including BRAC, WaterAid and Save the Children and increased its distribution in other parts of the world, including Haiti, Malawi, Uganda and the Philippines. . http://www.rdmag.com/articles/2015/08/american-standards-sato-safe-toilet
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Casca de tangerina: benefícios para a saúde
| 29 January 2015 | Por Bruna Guarnieri Bruna Guarnieri Redatora de ConteúdoA maioria das pessoas adora comer tangerina, mas acaba jogando a maior parte dos seus benefícios no lixo. Isso mesmo, a casca de tangerina possui muito mais benefícios do que a fruta em si, que são capazes de fazer maravilhas pela saúde. De acordo com um estudo conjunto do Departamento de Agricultura dos EUA e uma empresa de pesquisa canadense, publicado em 2004, há relatos de que a casca de tangerina possui propriedades para baixar o colesterol. Segundo estudiosos, casca tem mais propriedades medicinais do que a fruta em si. Foto: iStock, Getty Images Casca de tangerina previne câncerAlém disso, a casca de tangerina é muito aromática e tem um sabor picante e amargo. Mas, quando comparada à fruta, a casca tem mais antioxidantes e flavonoides, que podem prevenir o câncer e melhorar a eficácia da vitamina C no organismo. Ainda, o óleo essencial de tangerina pode proporcionar muitos benefícios e qualidade de vida. A maneira mais fácil de consumir a casca de tangerina é fazer um pó com ela. Para isso, é preciso simplesmente secar as cascas, ao natural, deixando-as em local seco, ou então no próprio forno. Após as cascas estarem secas, você pode moê-las em um moedor de café e armazenar o seu pó na geladeira, o que irá preservar as suas propriedades saudáveis. Por que usar a casca de tangerinaApesar de não ter gosto de coisa alguma, pode ser adicionado em sucos ou em água. Você também pode preparar um chá usando a casca de tangerina, nesse modo com ela fresca ou seca. Veja quais são os principais benefícios deste remédio caseiro para a saúde. 1.Baixar o colesterol Um estudo científico publicado em 2004 revela que a casca, conforme dito acima, tem benefícios à saúde mais poderosos do que o suco feito da fruta, logo, poderia ter um potencial significativo de redução do colesterol. Os cientistas deram a hamsters uma dieta gordurosa e, em seguida, os roedores foram alimentados com essa casca por 35 dias ininterruptos. Ao final do período, os pesquisadores descobriram que os hamsters alimentados com suplementos de tangerina tiveram o seu colesterol reduzido, e tudo isso sem efeitos colaterais negativos. 2.Luta contra o câncer Um estudo britânico de 2007 mostrou que certos compostos encontrados em abundância na casca podem causar um efeito de autodestruição nas células cancerosas. Os resultados preliminares indicam que pacientes com câncer podem se beneficiar ao tomar um suplemento de tangerina. Por enquanto os ensaios clínicos não foram realizados, mas não há dúvida de que a evidência é promissora. 3.Obesidade Os estudos sobre os efeitos de um composto encontrado naturalmente nas porções brancas da casca de tangerina mostraram que ratinhos que foram tratados com este elemento não conseguiram desenvolver obesidade ou aterosclerose. Aterosclerose refere-se ao acúmulo de gordura nas artérias, que podem levar a um ataque cardíaco ou acidente vascular cerebral. Outros benefíciosMédicos chineses recomendam o uso desta casca especialmente na preparação de chá. A lista de benefícios para a saúde inclui auxílio na digestão e aliviar náuseas em mulheres grávidas. Outros benefícios incluem balanceamento de açúcar no sangue, ativando a desintoxicação do fígado, o tratamento de gripes e resfriados e aliviar o stress.
http://doutissima.com.br/2015/01/29/casca-de-tangerina-beneficios-para-saude-14689840/
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Searching the Internet inflates estimates of internal knowledge
Working in groups is advantageous because different individuals can be responsible for different information, allowing each individual to develop more in-depth expertise. For instance, a plumber, electrician, and carpenter work together to build a house, but each is responsible for unique aspects of the project. This is an example of a transactive memory system: information is distributed across the group, and each group member is aware of what he or she knows, as well as who knows what.Because the Internet surpasses any person in accessibility, speed, and breadth of knowledge, the Internet may be treated as an all-knowing expert transactive memory partner. However, in a recent paper in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Fisher, Goddu, and Keil (2015) suggest that these same features may exacerbate potentially negative effects of transactive memory, in particular conflating knowledge for which a partner is responsible with knowledge one actually possesses. Each of the experiments had an induction phase followed by a self-assessment phase. In the induction phase, participants rated their ability to explain the answers to common questions (e.g., "How do zippers work?") after either searching the Internet to confirm their explanation, or being specifically instructed not to use the Internet. In the subsequent self-assessment phase, participants were asked to rate how well they could explain the answers to groups of questions from a variety of domains that were unrelated to the induction phase questions. Participants who searched the Internet in the induction phase rated themselves as being able to give better explanations than participants who were not allowed to search the Internet. This result was obtained even when participants in the Internet condition were given a specific web source to find (e.g., "Please search the scientificamerican.com page for this information") and participants in the no Internet condition were shown text from that same website. In other words, searching for explanations online led to increases in self-assessed knowledge even when both groups had access to the same explanatory content, and when Internet search did not involve effortful processes like choosing between sources. Higher self-assessed knowledge was also observed following unsuccessful Internet searches (e.g., searches that did not yield an answer to the question). Increases in self-assessed knowledge following Internet search were reduced or eliminated in the following conditions: 1) when participants were provided with a link to access the web source in the induction phase, and 2) when autobiographical knowledge was probed in the self-assessment phase. These results suggest that it is the act of searching online that promotes increases in self-assessed knowledge, and this effect is limited to domains where the Internet might plausibly be of use. Together, this series of experiments demonstrates that actively searching the Internet inflates our sense of the knowledge we actually possess because we fail to recognize the extent to which we rely on external sources for information. While similar illusions of knowledge have been obtained for other external information sources, these illusions may be particularly strong for the Internet because online information is easily and nearly constantly accessible, is retrieved quickly, and covers an incredible breadth of content. Such access to information has many benefits, but the authors caution that the strength of the illusion of knowledge with respect to the Internet could have negative consequences in situations in which the Internet is not available, and individuals think they know more than they really do. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by American Psychological Association. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference:
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quarta-feira, 12 de agosto de 2015
2,500-year-old Pythagoras theorem helps to show when a patient has turned a corner–republ.-
A medical researcher at the University of Warwick has found the 2,500 year-old Pythagoras theorem could be the most effective way to identify the point at which a patient's health begins to improve.In a paper published in PLOS ONE, Dr Rob Froud from Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick worked with his colleague Gary Abel from the University of Cambridge. They made the discovery after looking at data from ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curves. These curves were initially developed during World War II for the analysis of signals to help operators decide whether a blip on the screen was an enemy target or allied forces ships or aircrafts. In the 1980s, the curves were adopted by epidemiologists to help them decide at what point an individual has recovered from an illness. Dr Froud said: "It all comes down to choosing a point on a curve to determine when recovery has occurred. For many chronic conditions, epidemiologists agree that the correct point to choose is that which is closest to the top-left corner of the plot containing the curve. As we stopped to think about it, it struck us as obvious that the way to choose this point was by using Pythagoras theorem." Pythagoras theorem states that in a right-angled triangle, the sum of the squares of the two right-angled sides is equal to the square of the hypotenuse (i.e the longer diagonal that joins the two right angled sides). This means that one can determine the length of the hypotenuse given the length of the other two sides. Dr Froud said: "We set about exploring the implications of this and how it might change conclusions in research. We conducted several experiments using real trial data and it seems using Pythagoras' theorem makes a material difference. It helps to identify the point at which a patient has improved with more consistency and accuracy than other methods commonly used. "The moral of the story is that before you throw out the old stuff in the attic -- just go through it one last time -- as there may be something in there that is still relevant and useful," Dr Froud added. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by University of Warwick. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference:
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terça-feira, 11 de agosto de 2015
Fibromyalgia misconceptions
| Get the facts about these common fibromyalgia myths. Learning all you can about fibromyalgia is the first step toward gaining control of your symptoms. Fibromyalgia is a widely misunderstood condition that causes widespread pain and fatigue. If you've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and are trying to learn all you can about the condition, you may come across some myths and misconceptions about fibromyalgia. In this interview, Connie A. Luedtke, R.N., the nursing supervisor of the Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Clinic at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, discusses some common misconceptions about fibromyalgia. What is the most common misconception about fibromyalgia?The top misconception is that people think fibromyalgia isn't a real medical problem or that it is "all in your head." There's a lot that's unknown about fibromyalgia, but researchers have learned more about it in just the past few years. In people who have fibromyalgia, the brain and spinal cord process pain signals differently. As a result, they react more strongly to touch and pressure, with a heightened sensitivity to pain. It is a real physiological and neurochemical problem. Why does this misconception persist?In our society, people tend to think that there is a cure or a fix for every medical problem. You go to the doctor, expecting he or she will fix whatever's wrong with you with medication or surgery. It's frustrating to people with fibromyalgia because the traditional treatment approach isn't effective. And it's also frustrating to health care providers because they want to help people. But there's no easy fix. It takes lifestyle changes and small steps toward achieving wellness. It's a process. How have misconceptions about fibromyalgia changed over the years?More people understand that fibromyalgia is a real problem, often because they know someone who has it — perhaps a sister or daughter or mother. And more men are being diagnosed with fibromyalgia now that the diagnostic criteria are no longer focused so heavily on the number of tender points you might have. Health care providers are seeing that people who have fibromyalgia can manage their symptoms with lifestyle changes to improve their overall functioning and quality of life. So there's hope for the future. Is there a diet for fibromyalgia? Some people say their fibromyalgia symptoms are worsened by certain foods or food additives — such as refined flour, dairy products, sugar, sugar substitutes or MSG — but there's no clear research-based evidence to support this. Some studies show a benefit in avoiding certain foods or additives, while other studies don't show such a correlation. Scientists are investigating possible connections between the consumption of gluten and fibromyalgia symptoms, but more research is needed. People who have fibromyalgia are also more likely to be overweight or obese, and both problems impact quality of life. For some people, losing weight can help reduce fibromyalgia symptoms. Can techniques such as meditation help reduce pain?The power of the mind is a real factor in pain perception. For example, studies have shown that anxiety that occurs in anticipation of pain is often more problematic than the pain experience itself. In that sense, the mind has a negative impact on symptoms. Many of the people who come to Mayo Clinic's fibromyalgia clinic are perfectionists who have very high expectations for themselves. They haven't adjusted to more realistic expectations after they developed fibromyalgia symptoms. These people have difficulty learning to relax. They may push through the pain and keep doing activities to the point of exhaustion. However, as people learn to moderate their activity levels, they gradually adjust their expectations, and are able to become more active without overdoing it. People report lower levels of pain when they can slow their heart rate by deep breathing and doing other relaxation techniques. In our clinic, we teach people about tools they can use to tap into what they have within their own power. Can misconceptions about fibromyalgia be harmful?If people with fibromyalgia believe there is no help for them, they're going to remain untreated. Even if there isn't a cure, there are treatments that can really improve their quality of life. They need to recognize that it's OK to ask for help with things, and that it's OK to give themselves time for exercise and relaxation each day. They need to make their own health a priority. July 11, 2015 References
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Coping with diabetes: Helping your loved one
| By Nancy Klobassa Davidson, R.N. and Peggy Moreland, R.N. April 24, 2013 How do you help someone who won't help themself, especially when he or she is an adult? Let's face it, diabetes isn't an easy disease to have or manage. It can be frustrating and takes work. On top of that, everyone seems to have an opinion about diabetes, whether it's valid or not. As a family member or friend of someone with diabetes, you may see your loved one struggle with diabetes management. And some people with diabetes tend to minimize or ignore their diabetes. Burnout can occur from years of managing the condition. But, as William Polonsky, Ph.D., author of the book, Diabetes Burnout, says, "Ignoring something bad that is happening to you makes perfect sense only if there is really nothing you can do about it." That's part of why watching a family member or partner do little or nothing to keep his or her diabetes under control can be so heartbreaking. Still, if you're a family member, friend or partner of someone with diabetes, it's important to remember whose diabetes it is and respect boundaries. Nagging, being a watchdog, extracting promises and manipulating someone to do what you want them to do doesn't work. So what should you do? Dr. Polonsky offers the following advice:
In addition, it may be useful to:
The bottom line is to take care of yourself and find your own support system. Respect your loved one's wishes and show them you care. Hopefully your loved one will discover that he or she isn't powerless and can do something to cope with and control his or her diabetes.
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New Shellfish Reference Material Will Help Monitor Oceans’ Radioactive Contamination
| From NIST Tech Beat: August 4, 2015 Contact: Chad Boutin A new reference material that will help laboratories accurately measure radioactive contamination in seawater is now available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The new reference material, a mixture of freeze-dried, powdered shellfish, provides a benchmark for scientists analyzing the local ocean environment’s level of contamination—for example, after an accident such as the 2011 nuclear plant disaster in Fukushima, Japan. The material, formally NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) 4358, is made from shellfish that contain low but well-characterized amounts of several radioactive elements. Reference materials that are certified by NIST to have certain known measurement values help researchers calibrate measurement equipment and validate their own analysis methods with greater precision. “In particular, this SRM will help laboratories measure radioactivity levels in seafood,” says NIST’s Svetlana Nour. “It will help them to screen more samples in a shorter period of time.” The reference material contains a powdered mixture of oysters and mussels collected from three locations: the Irish Sea, the White Sea and the Sea of Japan before 2011. Each of these water bodies possesses some level of radioactive contamination. “The radioactive contamination of the ocean is a concerning environmental problem,” Nour says. “Shellfish are important indicators because of their capacity to accumulate radioactive elements from seawater.” Each reference bottle holds 150 grams of powder that contains specific amounts of radioactivity. More than 1,500 bottles were produced, which could supply the radiochemistry community with an anticipated 10-year supply of the SRM according to previous estimates. NIST created this reference material with the assistance of 11 other laboratories from nine countries, including several other national metrology institutes. The labs involved used several different extractions and analysis methods to characterize the radioactive content of the shellfish. Nour says the reference material benefits from the support and experience of the other labs that participated in its development. “Creating an SRM like this is costly and time-consuming work,” she says, “but it’s important to have them so we can make good measurements that would allow good and quick decisions when a specific contamination situation occurs.” SRM 4358, “Ocean Shellfish Radionuclide Standard,” is available for purchase from NIST. A complete technical description of the SRM and the details of its development was published* in 2013 in the Journal of Radioanalytical Nuclear Chemistry. * S. Nour, K.G.W. Inn, J. Filliben, H. van der Gaast, L.C. Men, D. Calmet, T. Altzitzoglou, P. Povinec, Y. Takata, M. Wisdom, K. Nakamura, P. Vesterbacka, C.C. Huang and S.M. Vakulovsky. Characterization of the NIST shellfish Standard Reference Material 4358. Journal of Radioanalytical Nuclear Chemistry, DOI: 10.1007/s10967-012-2204-1, 2013 (296: pp.301–307).
http://www.nist.gov/pml/div682/201508_shellfish_reference_material.cfm |
Good morning from the International Space Station
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly), currently on a year-long mission on the International Space Station, took this photograph of a sunrise and posted it to social media on Aug. 10, 2015. Kelly wrote, "#GoodMorning to those in the western #USA. Looks like there's a lot going on down there. #YearInSpace"
The space station and its crew orbit Earth from an altitude of 220 miles, traveling at a speed of approximately 17,500 miles per hour. Because the station completes each trip around the globe in about 92 minutes, the crew experiences 16 sunrises and sunsets each day.
Image Credit: NASA
Last Updated: Aug. 11, 2015
Editor: Sarah Loff
What to expect from this week's Samsung Unpacked (Galaxy Note 5) event
| Unlike last year's Galaxy Note 4/Edge event (pictured), Samsung is holding this year's phablet-focused launch in August (Credit: Will Shanklin/Gizmag) We're only a few days away from Samsung's next Unpacked event. And while we never know exactly what events will hold, multiple leaks have combined to paint a pretty clear picture of what to expect at this one. The centerpiece should, of course, be the Galaxy Note 5, the next version of Samsung's stylus-laden phablet. Every other Galaxy Note was announced at IFA in early September, but Samsung is bumping the launch up this year, reportedly to create some distance from the iPhone 6s launch (expected on or around September 9). According to SamMobile, the Galaxy Note 5 will keep the same key display specs from the Note 4: 5.7-inches, Super AMOLED, with Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440) resolution. The Note 4 was already doing great in that department, so we shouldn't have any complaints there. The Galaxy S6's glass back and aluminum frame The new phablet will, however, get a new premium build that basically matches the Galaxy S6, including aluminum edges and glass back. The last two versions of the Note lineup had faux leather backs with either aluminum (Galaxy Note 4) or plastic (Note 3) frames, so this will make for a higher-end feel. The Note 5's S Pen (stylus) will also reportedly be easier to yank out of the phone. Expect an auto-eject feature, where it pops (partially) out of the handset when you press against its top. One of the top items on our Note 5 wish list was a metallic S Pen, but we don't yet know whether the company will do that or stick with plastic. The Galaxy Note 4's S Pen Other alleged Note 5 specs include 4 GB of RAM, an entry-level 32 GB internal storage and a 64-bit octa-core Exynos processor. The handset will also reportedly have a 16 MP rear camera and 5 MP front sensor, along with wireless charging like in the GS6. Samsung's second big announcement should be the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus (try saying that ten times in a row). Unlike last year's Galaxy Note Edge, the new phablet reportedly won't have a stylus, instead settling for being a plus-sizedGalaxy S6 edge. Or, if you prefer, a more direct rival to the iPhone 6 Plus. Expect the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus to be a larger version of the curved Galaxy S6 Edge (pictured) Otherwise leaks point to the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus' specs lining up almost identically with the Note 5's, apart from 3 GB of RAM in place of the Note's 4 GB. Your choice should then come down to stylus and flat screen vs. no stylus and curved screen. Samsung should have at least a couple of wearables arriving in 2015, but we aren't sure if we'll see those on Thursday. The company is working on a round-faced smartwatch (reportedly called the Gear A) that improves on the company's Tizen software, but the relatively few or significant leaks we've seen about it could point to a later-in-2015 announcement. The Gear VR for S6 We also still expect the the first full consumer version of the Gear VR virtual reality headset sometime in 2015 (despite being sold in Best Buy stores, the previous versions were branded as "Innovator Editions" for developers and early adopters). We'd bet on this announcement also coming later in the year, but it's always possible we'll hear something this week. Despite the positive critical reception to the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, Samsung's flagship sales this year haven't quite lived up to its (or investors') expectations. The Korean company is hoping its new phablets, and their extra time in the spotlight before the new iPhones steal their thunder, will buck that trend. Gizmag will be on ground at Samsung Unpacked in New York City this Thursday, so be sure to check back for full coverage of (and likely hands-ons with) Samsung's product announcements.
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